ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS EPA calls on industry to voluntarily screen high-production chemicals
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PA officials are calling on the chemical industry to voluntarily screen high-production, high-volume chemicals for toxicity effects. Adequate information exists to allow EPA to screen chemicals for potential carcinogenic and other hazards in drugs, food additives, and pesticides. However, publicly available toxicity testing results do not exist for 71% of the approximately 3000 highproduction, nonpesticide chemicals in commercial use, said Lynn Goldman, assistant administrator of the Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances. Speaking at an EPA-sponsored conference on Preventable Causes of Cancer in Children, Goldman cited the results of a report from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), released in August, which detailed the missing information. "Until more information is available, it is difficult to assess the possible role of these chemicals in childhood cancer and to take steps to reduce exposure to children," added Goldman. In its report, "Toxic Ignorance," EDF mimicked test methods used by the National Academy of Sciences for its 1984 report, "Toxicity Testing," and found that only 63% of the 100 randomly chosen, highvolume, high-production chemicals it studied had results from carcinogenicity tests. Neurotoxicity tests have been done for only 33% of the chemicals, and immunotoxicity tests have been done on 14%. Only 49% of the chemicals listed on the Toxics Release Inventory, which each emit more than 10,000 lb annually, have publicly available toxicity data. Although the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requires that chemical producers generate data showing the effect of their products on health and the environment, toxicity testing on only 500
of the high-volume chemicals has been reported to the government, Goldman said. The reason is the cumbersome requirements of the law: Before EPA can require a company to provide test results on existing chemicals, it must show that the data are needed and it must provide evidence of this need test by test, EDF said. For new products, producers must submit premanufacture notification forms, but reporting data on a chemical's toxicity is optional, EDF said. Many EPA officials agree that TSCAs requirements aren't specific enough to force companies to do toxicity tests. Congress should provide EPA with clearer authority to require more testing, Goldman said, although a congressional amendment to TSCA is not likely to be approved any time soon. EDF also urged 100 of the nation's top chemical producers to complete preliminary healthscreening tests on their top-selling products before 2000 and publicly report their results. The group asked the companies to carry out
the toxicological data elements of the Screening Information Data Set (SIDS) program of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which targets chemicals that need further study EDF called for tests on acute, repeated dose, in vitro genetic, in vivo genetic, developmental, and reproductive toxicity. Goldman also urged chemical producers to participate more actively in SIDS. A representative from Dow Chemical Co., one of the companies contacted by EDF, said die company generally supports EDF's request. Several issues must be ironed out, however, including what constitutes publicly available information, a Dow spokeswoman said. In addition, toxicity data on many chemicals are available on several government databases, although these may not be the data EDF and EPA are seeking, explained Don Healin, manager of product stewardship of the Chemical Manufacturers Association. One factor that keeps U.S. companies from moving ahead with SIDS, Healin said, is that companies in other countries have not done new toxicity tests; instead, they have provided existing data to the program. —CATHERINE M. COONEY
Available toxicity studies Carcinogenicity tests have been done on only 37% of the high-production chemicals in U.S. commerce, whereas testing for endpoints of particular concern to children's health, such as developmental neurotoxicity, has been done on less than 10% of the chemicals. Genetic toxicity Developmental toxicity/teratogenicity Toxicity to reproduction Carcinogenicity Neurotoxicity Other toxicities Immunotoxicity
Source: EDF, "Toxic Ignorance."
5 0 2 A • VOL. 3 1 , NO. 11, 1997/ ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS
0013-936X/97/0931-502AS14.00/0 © 1997 American Chemical Society
